Former Missouri State pitcher makes MLB debut for Kansas City Royals in Cleveland
The days, hours and innings leading up to Dylan Coleman’s eventual major-league debut felt like they were dragging on until he got told to warm up and prepare to enter his first game as a member of the Kansas City Royals.
As he tried to describe the moment, Coleman got wide-eyed and the pace of his speech quickened as he explained, “When I first got up to maybe go in the inning before it was kind of really speeding up on me.”
Coleman, 25, tossed a scoreless seventh inning and allowed one hit in Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound right-hander threw 20 pitches — nine at least 99 mph, including a 100.2 mph fastball.
“The guy is nasty,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “The ball was jumping out of his hand. He pounded the strike zone, 100 miles an hour at you. … Everything that we had saw on video and we had heard at the other levels where he has been, we got to see first-hand.”
The native of Potosi, Missouri, selected out of Missouri State by the San Diego Padres in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, officially received his first promotion to the majors on Monday prior to the doubleheader in Cleveland.
The Royals acquired Coleman last fall as the player to be named from the San Diego Padres in the trade that sent reliever Trevor Rosenthal to the Padres and brought Edward Olivares to the Royals.
This season while pitching for Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha, Coleman posted a 3.28 ERA with seven saves, 93 strikeouts, 22 walks, a 1.04 WHIP and a .186 opponent’s batting average in 57 2/3 innings.
Members of his family were in Cleveland to see him pitch on Tuesday.
“It meant a lot,” Coleman said. “They were in town since (Monday), and obviously they were staying in town until I threw. They said they weren’t going to miss it regardless. It’s good to have them here, all the time they put in to see the time that I’ve put in and to enjoy it together and see the benefits of putting the work in was kind of rewarding.”
He got the word after Saturday’s game with Triple-A Omaha that he’d be headed to KC. He joined the team before they left for Cleveland following their series finale against the Mariners on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals had Coleman available in the bullpen for Monday’s doubleheader. Brady Singer threw a 7-inning complete game in the first game, and the Royals used five of their more experienced relievers in the second game.
“A lot of anticipation (Monday) and then not getting to go in, but I know that it’s a new role for me, starting over again,” Coleman said. “It was still exciting, (Monday). Not going in, getting the extra day, seeing the game, watching in a new stadium and stuff, I think it was beneficial.”
Tuesday, Matheny had Coleman up in the sixth inning after starting pitcher Daniel Lynch put a pair of men on via a single and a hit batter. The final batter of the inning lined out to shortstop Nicky Lopez, otherwise Coleman would have entered his first game with the bases loaded.
The first pitch Coleman threw in the game veered wide of the plate and past All-Star catcher Salvador Perez and to the backstop.
“Obviously you never want to do that,” Coleman said with a chuckle. “It was almost kind of, not expected, but just one of those things that — it happened so then just go back to executing the next pitch.
“It was definitely like a step back, deep breath, and then kind of calm myself. Then I felt like after that it was back to the way I’d been throwing.”
